Upcoming Events: Focus on Social Media, Latin America and Clean Energy

If you have not yet signed up for our upcoming events, please make sure you do soon!  Here is what's coming up next.

Public Diplomacy and Social Media in Latin America
Time: Tuesday, March 29, 12:00pm - 2:00pm
Location: SAIS Rome Building, Room 203, 1619 Massachusetts Ave., NW, Washington, DC
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As mobile phones and social media networks tie together more and more people across the Americas, these new technologies are enabling individuals to connect and communicate within countries and across borders. On March 29, NDN and the New Policy Institute will co-host a forum with the Latin America Studies Program of Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) to discuss how these technologies are affecting diplomacy, politics and governance in Latin America.

A keynote speech by Under Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, Judith McHale will address how the State Department is advancing U.S. foreign policy in Latin America through increased engagement, including constructive and meaningful people-to-people exchanges, local and regional media outreach and the use of multiple social platforms to establish direct relationships across the region. 

Following Under Secretary McHale's speech, a panel discussion will explore the impact of social media and other network technologies on governance and civil society in certain Latin American countries, including Cuba, Venezuela and Mexico. Panelists will include:

    * Christopher Sabatini - Senior Director of Policy, Americas Society & Council of the Americas
    * Carlos Ponce - Reagan Fascell Democracy Fellow, National Endowment for Democracy
    * Oscar Salazar - Founder & CEO, Citivox; Co-Founder, Cuidemos el Voto
    * Sam duPont - Policy Analyst, NDN & New Policy Institute (moderator)

 

Forward Together/Avanzando Juntos/Avançando Juntos– A Conference Looking at the Changing Politics of the Americas
Time: April 11, 8:45am
Location: Newseum, 555 Pennsylvania Ave NW, Washington, DC
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NDN and the New Policy Institute will conduct a major day-long conference looking at how this fast-changing region might be able to do more to move forward together, in the years ahead.   The day will feature major addresses by influential thought leaders well experienced in the region, including Governor Bill Richardson, the Senior Director for the Western Hemisphere at the National Security Council Dan Restrepo, the Ambassador from Mexico to the United States Arturo Sarukhan and a panel discussion with Latin American Ambassadors to the United States.

Additionally there will be a very special conversation about the state of our common border with Mexico with mayors from sister citiies on both sides of the border - Mayor Arturo Garino of Nogales, Arizona and Mayor Jose Angel Hernandez Barajas of Nogales,in the state of Sonora in northern MexicoThis exciting discussion will be moderated by Chappell Lawson, former Executive Director and Senior Policy Advisor to the Commissioner U.S. Customs and Border Patrol at the Department of Homeland Security. Dr. Lawson is the  co-author of one of the seminal pieces of academic work on the future of the U.S - Mexico border region, Managing the United States-Mexico Border: Cooperative Solutions to Common Challenges. He is currently an Associate Professor at MIT with a concentration in Latin America.

Rounding out the day will be an in depth conversation about the economic ties that bind the United States and Mexico together. This panel will feature representatives from both U.S. and Mexican businesses and governments.

NDN's New York Clean Energy Forum Hosts Michael Granoff
Time: April 12, 8:30am
Location: Harvard Club, 35 W 44th St, in the Mahogany Room
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Our second event for the New York Clean Energy Forum will be with Michael Granoff on Tuesday, April 12 at 8:30am at the Harvard Club.

Michael Granoff has been head of oil independence policies for Better Place since its founding in 2007. In that capacity, he helps stakeholders of all types calibrate policies consistent with the Better Place approach to ending the corrosive effect of oil dependence on economy, environment and security. Stakeholders with which Granoff works include governments on every level, industry, non-governmental organizations, and current and future Better Place partners. Granoff is founder of Maniv Energy Capital, a New York-based investment group and the first investor in Better Place. In 2004, Granoff became a founding board member of Securing America’s Future Energy, a Washington, D.C. based group that works with corporate and retired military leaders to advocate for policies that contribute to the security of the U S.